Site Mobile Navigation

Jailed Woman In Peru Is Tried In Open Court

Lori Berenson, an American accused by Peruvian authorities of cooperating with leftist rebels of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement six years ago, used her first appearance in open court today to declare her innocence and to object to having to listen to her trial from behind bars.

''I am innocent of all the accusations made against me,'' the 31-year-old former M.I.T. student told the judge, who is hearing her case in a courtroom inside the San Juan prison in Lurigancho, just east of Lima.

Ms. Berenson, the daughter of New York City college professors, said her case -- she was convicted of treason by a military court -- was used by the government of President Alberto K. Fujimori, who resigned in disgrace in November, as a smoke screen to hide political problems in the country.

The public prosecutor, Walter Julián Rivas, is basing his prosecution on the argument that though Ms. Berenson may not have been a member of the Túpac Amaru, she is guilty of terrorism and offenses against public order because she collaborated with the group, known by its Spanish acronym, MRTA.

Prosecutors are seeking a 20-year sentence if Ms. Berenson is convicted.

Ms. Berenson told the court that the anti-terrorist laws under which she was being charged were enacted during a state of emergency and had attracted international criticism because they overrode detainees' rights.

Members of the public as well as the media were allowed free access to the courtroom, where the proceedings were also watched by Ms. Berenson's parents, Mark and Rhoda Berenson.

In January 1996, in a trial denounced as unfair by the United States, Ms. Berenson was convicted of treason and sentenced to life in prison by a military court. In closed-door hearings the military court concluded that she had been a leading member of the MRTA, and had been involved in that group's plans to take over the Peruvian Congress in November 1995.

Ms. Berenson's parents, with legal advice from Ramsey Clark, a former attorney general of the United States, have waged a campaign in the American media, emphasizing that the military trial of civilians -- a procedure established by the Peruvian government in 1992 -- failed to meet internationally recognized criteria for a fair trial.

In August of last year, a military court overturned Ms. Berenson's life sentence and handed the case over to civilian courts.